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t Mu  u)i  tilt  "iiitxht's  gitlj, 


DISCOURSE 


DELIVERED  IN  PAIiK  STREET  CHURCH, 


SUNDAY,  APRIL  21,  1861,  ' 


R  F/\'^ .  A  .   L  .  STONE 


B  O  S  T  0  N  : 
I'UJiLISHED  BY   HENRY  HOYT. 
1S61. 


(Jljc  lllar  anir  tlje  |3atnot'0  JBntg. 


A  DISCOURSE 


DELIVERED   IN  PARK  STREET  CHURCH, 


SUNDAY,   APRIL  21,  1861, 


By 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED    BY    HENRY  HOYT, 

No.    9    CORNHI  LL. 
1861. 


Geo.  C.  Rand  &  Aveky,  Printers,  No.  3  Coknhill,  Bostoh. 


'.'mm 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


To  Rev.  a.  L.  Stone. 

The  undersig-ned,  who  had  the  pleasure  of  listening-  to  your  able,  elo- 
quent, and  patriotic  discourse,  preached  before  the  Park  Street  Cluirch 
and  Society  this  morning,  believing-  that  its  sentiments  should  be  widely 
diifused,  would  most  respectfully  request  a  copy  for  publication. 
We  are  very  truly  your  obedient  servants, 

A.  O.  Brewster, 
Henry  Hoyt, 
James  A.  Dix, 
C.  L.  Bartlett, 
H.  O.  Briggs, 
Jno.  J.  Newcomb, 
Eben  Cutler, 
W.  T.  Glidden, 
Ezra  Farnsworth, 
Samuel  Neal, 
Nathan  Orowell, 
Edward  B.  Hall. 

Boston,  April  21,  1861. 


Boston,  Sabbath  Noon,  ) 
April  21,  1861.  { 

Gentlemen:  If  I  yield  to  your  request,  it  must  be  of  course  on  the 
instant,  with  no  opportunity  of  revising-  or  reconsidering  the  words  I 
have  uttered.   But  I  am  willing  to  stand  by  them,  and  to  speak  them  to 
the  widest  possible  auditory.   I  submit  the  MS.  to  your  disposal. 
Yours  in  devotion  to  our  common  country, 

A.  L.  STONE, 

Messrs.  A.  O.  Brewster  and  others. 


THE  WAR  AND  THE  PATRIOT'S  DUTY. 


"  Wherefore  I  have  not  sinned  against  thee,  but  thou  doest  me  wrong  to 
war  against  me;  the  Lord  the  Judge  be  judge  this  day  between  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  and  the  children  of  Ammon.^''  —  Judges  xi.  27. 

At  that  period  in  the  history  of  Israel,  called  "  the 
time  of  the  judges,"  and  at  a  point  in  that  period  of 
great  distraction  and  confusion  in  national  affairs,  no 
judge  at  the  head  of  the  administration,  —  the  princes 
discordant  among  tliemselves,  every  man  doing  that 
which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes,  and  the  whole  nation 
corrupting  itself  with  idolatry, — the  king  of  the  Am- 
monites moved  a  great  army  into  the  pleasant  and  fruit- 
ful vales  of  Gilead,  with  intent  to  subject  all  that  fertile 
region  east  of  the  river  to  his  own  sway.  It  is  well  for 
the  children  of  Israel  in  Gilead  that  they  succeed  in 
making  Jephthah  their  captain,  and  commit  the  conduct 
of  the  war  to  him.  He  accepts  the  trust,  and  justifies 
the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  the  wise  and  prompt 
measures  which  he  adopts.  The  armed  invaders  are 
already  upon  his  soil ;  the  Ammonites  are  the  trespass- 
ers, but  Jephthah  is  patient  and  forbearing.  He  does 
not  precipitate  himself  upon  his  enemies,  —  "a  word  and 
a  blow,"  the  blow  first, — but  sends  messengers  to  the 
invading  king  to  ask  the  reason  and  the  justification  of 
this  act  of  hostility.  When  was  ever  the  hand  of  vio- 
1* 


6 


lence  witliont  a  pretext  for  striking?  The  king  asserts 
tliat  when  the  Israelites  came  up  out  of  Egypt  they 
dispossessed  him  of  those  very  lands,  and  that  he  is 
there  to  regain  his  own ;  a  claim  that  has  slumbered 
three  hundred  years  trumped  up  now,  evidently  for  the 
occasion.  Still,  Jephthah  is  patient  and  calm.  It  is 
w^orth  while,  if  he  can,  to  show  the  Ammonites  the  in- 
justice of  their  claim,  to  convince  them  of  the  right- 
eousness of  Israel's  cause,  and  by  argument  and  per- 
suasion to  turn  back  the  tide  of  strife.  And  again  he 
sends  messengers  to  rehearse  the  matter  at  large, — 
how  that  the  Ammonites  had  been  originally  dispos- 
sessed by  the  Amorites ;  that  the  Amorites  had  waged 
an  unjust  war  against  Israel  and  lost  these  lands  to  her 
in  that  conflict ;  that  the  Supreme  Disposer  and  Ex- 
ecutive had  commanded  Israel  to  take  possession  of 
this  region  and  hold  it  for  him ;  that  they  had  held  for 
three  centuries ;  that  their  holding  had  never  been  mo- 
lested or  disputed,  and  that  therefore  the  present  in- 
vasion was  unjustifiable.  Little  cared  the  covetous 
king  of  Ammon  about  the  right  of  the  case.  Probably 
he  and  his  forces  encouraged  themselves  over  this  long 
delay,  this  fruitless  negotiation  on  the  part  of  the  new 
captain  and  the  men  of  Gilead.  They  said,  very  likely, 
one  to  another,  "These  men  are  afraid  to  fight  us ;  they 
will  yield  all  we  have  demanded.  If  they  had  not 
been  cowards,  or  altogether  unprepared  to  meet  us  in 
arms,  they  would  not  have  stood  talking  so  long.  We 
have  only  to  show  a  bold  front,  and  these  rich  prov' 


7 


inces  are  ours,  even  to  the  banks  of  the  Jordan ;  and 
then,  as  the  next  step,  the  whole  Jordan  valley  on 
either  bank,  the  border  provinces,  will  fall  to  our  do- 
minion." 

They  had  mistaken  their  man.  While  delaying  and 
negotiating,  Jephthah  had  been  assembling  forces  at 
Mizpeh.  He  had  pnt  the  Ammonites  into  the  wrong. 
He  had  shown  his  desire  for  a  righteous  peace.  He 
had  pushed  his  forbearance  to  its  utmost  limit.  Before 
God  and  man  he  had  convicted  the  invaders  of  com- 
mitting a  wanton  and  indefensible  assault.  Then  he 
marched,  and  the  battle  was  joined.  And  the  Lord 
delivered  the  Ammonites  into  the  hands  of  Jephthah ; 
"  and  he  smote  them  from  Aroer  even  till  thou  come 
to  Minnith,  even  twenty  cities,  and  unto  the  plain  of 
the  vineyards,  with  a  very  great  slaughter.  Thus  the 
children  of  Ammon  were  subdued  before  the  children 
of  Israel." 

From  the  horizon  that  has  been  darkening  day  by 
day  for  months  past,  as  our  eyes  have  looked  south- 
ward, there  have  shot  up  at  last  the  lurid  clouds  of  war. 
Out  of  the  bosom  of  the  cloud  we  have  seen  the  sul- 
phurous flashes  and  heard  the  crash  of  the  thunders, 
and  know  that  the  bolts  of  doom  have  fallen.  The 
curtain  that  hung  before  the  scene  in  that  southern  har- 
bor, where  one  little  patriot  band  stood  at  bay,  ringed 
about  with  a  score  of  iron-mouthed  batteries,  rose,  and 
the  gaze  of  thirty  millions  of  people  in  this  land  w\as 
fastened  upon  the  opening  of  the  great  tragedy.  Against 


8 


the  brave  old  flag  and  its  few  defenders,  traitorous  and 
rebel  hands  launched  the  missives  of  death  and  de- 
struction. For  awhile  it  waved  amid  clouds  and  smoke, 
and  its  chamjoions  gave  back  the  stormy  salutation  of 
the  hostile  leaguer,  fourscore  against  seven  thousand, 
and  then  upon  the  well-defended  and  blackened  ruin 
came  down  the  stainless  bunting,  a  martial  shroud  for 
the  lost  fortress.  And  over  the  land,  from  city  to  city, 
and  home  to  home,  waking  the  echoes  of  every  hill- 
side and  every  hearthstone, —  uttered  by  the  lightning's 
fiery  tongue,  repeated  by  the  press,  and  vibrating  on 
all  the  air,  —  has  gone  one  brief  word,  that  has  in 
it  ,a  world  of  dreadful  meaning,  "War!"  "War!" 
That  word  is  ringing  in  our  ears  to-day ;  we  cannot 
shut  it  out.  That  meaning  is  on  our  hearts ;  we  cannot 
throw  off  the  burden. 

Do  you  ask.  Why  repeat  that  word  here,  within  this 
calm  retreat,  consecrated  to  the  utterance  of  that  gos- 
pel which  is  "  peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men  ?  "  If 
all  the  air  outside  is  stirred  by  it,  why  not  keep  these 
sacred  hours,  and  this  sacred  place,  for  other  words  and 
sounds,  —  the  words  of  love  and  mercy  ?  Because  the 
most  momentous  question  we  can  ask  to-day  of  the 
oracles  of  God,  is  what  spirit  we  ought  to  cherish,  and 
what  duties  we  have  to  perform  in  this  great  stress  that 
is  come  upon  us ;  because  our  country  has  a  right  to  be 
remembered,  as  we  come  with  all  that  keep  holy  time, 
to  the  Throne  of  Grace;  because  we  cannot,  as  Chris- 
tian patriots,  forget  her  before  God  in  this  day  of  trouble ; 


9 


because  nothing  has  more  at  stake,  in  a  time  of  war, 
than  God's  religion  and  all  its  ordinances ;  because  by 
example  of  our  godly  ancestry,  our  old  puritan  wor- 
thies of  the  'New  England  pulpit,  who  consecrated  the 
banners,  and  baptized  the  swords,  and  blessed  the  sol- 
dier, in  the  ancient  fight  for  freedom,  and  sometimes 
went  before  him  to  the  field,  as  on  the  greensward  of 
Lexington  on  that  April  day,  long  ago,  —  their  descend- 
ants in  the  pulpit  cannot  be  true  to  God  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  sacred  functions  unless  they  are  true  to 
their  country;  and  because,  for  one,  I  believe  that 
there  is  no  duty  for  the  Christian  pastor  so  sacred  to- 
day as  to  seek  to  swell,  and  steady,  and  guide  the  cur- 
rents of  patriotic  self-devotion.  Very  likely  some  of 
you  will  judge  otherwise.  I  am  not  indifierent  to  the 
judgment  of  my  fellow-men,  but  as  I  think  and  believe 
I  must  speak.  Let  us  look,  then,  at  our  relations  and 
our  duties  in  the  strange  tragic  time  upon  which  we 
are  fallen. 

And  the  first  point  is.  Can  we  truthfully  and  honestly 
borrow  the  words  of  Jephthah  the  Gileadite  to  the  king 
of  Amnion,  as  our  vindication  to  our  brethren  and  foe- 
men  of  the  South,  "Wherefore  I  have  not  sinned 
against  thee?"  The  question  is  not  whether  indi- 
viduals have  spoken  harshly,  rashly,  and  unfraternally 
against  their  fellow-citizens  of  the  Southern  States. 
Not  whether  the  Northern  conscience  has  widely  and 
earnestly  pronounced  against  the  inherent  unrighteous- 
ness of  the  great  domestic  institution  of  the  South; 


10 


'Not  whether  by  all  means  fairly  and  lawfully  open  to 
Christian  reformers — the  pen,  the  press,  the  pulpit,  the 
rostrum,  the  varied  voices  of  free  discussion  —  humane 
and  philanthropic  men  have  done  their  best  to  revolu- 
tionize the  public  sentiment  of  this  land  and  bring  us 
back  to  the  acknowledged  position  of  the  fathers  and 
founders  of  the  Republic.  Not  whether  in  the  set- 
tlement of  new  territories,  freedom  has  poured  in  her 
majorities  and  saved  the  virgin  soil  from  the  curse  of 
slavery.  ISTot  whether  one  half-crazed  old  man,  on 
his  responsibility  to  God  and  his  own  soul,  dashed  him- 
self upon  the  ramparts  of  that  institution  in  a  wild 
crusade.  None  of  these  issues  have  been  made.  It 
is  known  that  none  of  these  are  the  real  issues.  It  is 
a  parricidal  hand  that  has  been  lifted.  The  blow  that 
has  been  struck  has  been  delivered  against  the  breast 
of  the  National  Government.  The  question  is,  the 
only  pertinent  question.  What  has  the  General 
Government  done  to  injure  or  offend  one  or 
SEVEN  States  of  the  South?  And  that  question 
cannot  be  answered.  It  will  go  down  the  stream  of 
history  unanswered  and  nnanswerable.  Not  one  right 
has  been  trampled  on;  not  one  immunity  withheld; 
not  one  privilege  denied ;  not  one  liberty  infringed ; 
and  not  even  a  solitary  interest  threatened.  If  the 
issue  were  with  Northern  freemen  as  individuals,  it 
could  not  be  successfully  maintained  that  the  South 
had  ever  suffered  any  wrong.  If  any  right  in  this 
land  is  sacred  and  universal,  it  is  the  right  of  free  dis- 


11 


cussion,  and  tlie  exercise  of  this  right  is  the  extent  of 
northern  sinning.  We  have  thought  and  felt  and  be- 
lieved, and  have  therefore  spoken,  but  we  have  obeyed 
the  laws.  We  have  kept  the  Constitution,  only  con- 
tending that  it  should  be  interpreted  as  the  Others 
framed  it,  and  as  all  parties  now  confess  ■ —  even  the 
authors  of  the  new — -in  the  interests  of  justice  and 
freedom.  But  what  possible  indictment  against  the 
national  supreme  administration  ?  Not  a  word,  —  not 
a  whisper,  —  not  a  shadow.  Before  the  present  admin- 
istration was  inaugurated  the  plot  of  treason  was  per- 
fected and  consummated.  To-day  each  State  is  abso- 
lutely supreme  in  the  matter  of  its  own  institutions 
and  laws,  and  not  one  statute  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment has  crossed  the  lines  of  State  sovereignty,  cer- 
tainly not  at  the  South,  to  interpose  another  and  a 
restrictive  authority.  Utterly,  utterly  and  for  ever 
groundless  is  this  great  crime  of  assailing  the  most 
generous,  the  most  liberal,  the  most  beneficent  Gov- 
ernment on  the  face  of  the  earth,  —  a  Governm^ent  on 
the  charity  of  which,  in  many  public  interests,  the 
assailants  lived.  Before  a  witnessing  world,  —  before 
the  tribunal  of  impartial  history,  —  before  the  bar  of 
omniscience,  the  Government  at  our  IN'ational  Capital 
can  stand  up  and  say  to  the  spirit  of  rebellion, 
"Wherefore  I  have  not  sinned  against  thee." 

Will  it  be  pretended  that  the  Government  was  quick 
and  hot  to  take  offence ;  that  it  rushed  to  arms  on  slight 
provocation,  eager  for  the  fray ;  that  it  made  war  cer- 


12 


tain  and  inevitable  by  precipitating  its  occasion  and 
fanning  its  fires  ?  Nay,  —  was  there  ever  before  in  all 
human  annals  a  Government  so  forbearing,  so  paternal, 
so  calmly  patient,  so  silently  enduriiig  under  manifest 
and  manifold  wrongs,  —  hoping  against  hope  that 
right  reason  would  reassert  its  sway  and  the  hour  of 
madness  pass,  -—  pushing  forbearance  even  to  the  verge 
of  pusillanimity,  straining  the  confidence  of  its  friends, 
and  stifling  all  the  enthusiasm  of  its  supporters,  anc' 
only  at  last,  in  self-defence,  by  the  final  wrong  and 
deadly  and  unprovoked  assault,  putting  forth  its  power 
and  saying  to  rebellion,  "Thus  far,  but  no  farther!  " 
Was  there  ever  such  a  spectacle  be-fore  ?  Kings  and 
cabinets  might  well  look  on  amazed.  The  muse  of 
history  will  write  it  with  unmingled  admiration. 
Surely  this  Government  may  say  it  with  emphasis 
clear  and  loud,  "  I  have  not  sinned  against  thee." 

And  then  follows  the  next  line  of  the  ancient  vindi- 
cation, "  But  thou  doest  me  wrong  to  war  against  me." 
How  palpable  for  the  modern  vindication  that  wrong ! 
The  wrong  of  a  long  and  silently  prepared  conspiracy ; 
of  munitions  of  war  traitorously  appropriated ;  of  pub- 
lic treasures  plundered ;  of  the  forces  and  armaments 
of  public  defence  scattered  far  and  wide  ;  of  the  loyalty 
of  citizens  and  soldiery  assiduously  corrupted  ;  of  forts, 
and  arsenals,  and  mints,  and  national  vessels  seized ;  oi 
systematic  attempts  to  seduce  State  after  State  from 
the  Confederacy ;  of  insult  and  injury  to  the  national 
functionaries ;  of  the  allegiance  of  more  than  two  mih 


13 


lions  of  free  white  citizens  to  tlie  General  Government 
formally  dissolved  ;  of  armed  occupancy  of  the  national 
property ;  and  finally,  of  battle  opened  with  cannon  and 
mortar  against  a  national  fortress  and  its  commissioned 
defenders  under  the  flag  of  their  country.  It  may  look 
feeble  and  childish,  —  there  may  seem  to  be  little  of 
dignity  and  authority,  when  the  Government  waits 
and  rises  up  to  say,  "  Thou  doest  wrong  to  war  against 
me,"  —  but  it  is  not  undignified  in  God's  sight;  it  is 
the  grandeur  of  receiving  wrong  patiently ;  it  is  t]ie 
invincible  strength  of  right.  When  that  protest  can 
be  truly  offered,  then  God  the  righteous  Judge  is  on 
our  side,  and  with  arms  in  our  hands  we  may  appeal  to 
the  God  of  battles. 

And  now  what  have  we  to  do  ?  We  have,  first  of 
all,  to  let  it  be  known  where  we  stand,  —  to  come  out 
every  man  from  his  silence  and  his  seclusion,  and  ex- 
press his  sympathy  for  the  Government,  and  take  sides, 
if  he  is  a  patriot,  with  the  Union  and  the  laws  of  tlie 
land.  And  here,  thank  God,  the  response  of  twenty 
millions  of  hearts  outruns  all  exhortation.  Least  of  all 
is  it  needed  in  these  streets  and  homes  that  any 
prophet  urge  his  fellow-men  to  show  which  cause  they 
espouse.  There  was  with  the  patriotic  majorities  of 
our  Northern  cities  and  States,  a  long  and  ominous 
silence  between  the  incoming  of  the  present  adminis- 
tration and  this  hour  of  awaking.  It  seemed  a  dull 
and  strange  apathy.  It  was  mysterious  and  unintelli- 
gible. 'No  man  could  fathom  it.  What  lay  beneath 
2 


14 


this  calm  ?  What  did  this  utter  blank  of  expression 
portend  ?  Some  thought  it  meant  distrust  of  the  Gov- 
ernment and  its  policy.  Some  supposed  it  to  be  a  wide 
popular  reaction  from  the  views  that  had  won  a  popu- 
lar victory.  Some  saw  in  it  disappointment,  chagrin, 
and  discontent.  Some,  and  they  were  not  a  few,  in- 
terpreted it  as  a  sympathy  with  the  Southern  uprising, 
that  would  in  due  time  take  on  bolder  forms,  and  in- 
augurate positive  measures.  It  was  as  the  silence  of 
nature  in  the  torpid  winter,  —  it  was  as  the  hush  of  life 
in  the  darkness  of  night,  —  it  was  as  the  stillness  in 
earth  and  sky  that  precedes  the  breaking  of  the  tem- 
pest. But  no  seer  could  say  what  the  awakening 
would  be.  The  silence  was  yet  deep  and  impene- 
trable. 

And  men  began  to  feel  that  the  sentiment  of  loyalty 
was  wanting  to  American  hearts,  —  that  ours  was  a 
style  of  government  that  could  not  inspire  that  senti- 
ment, —  that  we  were  sensitive  for  State  rights,  —  that 
we  were  proud  of  our  power  and  prosperity,  —  that 
we  loved  and  worshipped  our  golden  idol^  but  that  the 
spirit  of  chivalrous  and  loyal  devotion  to  our  unroman- 
tic,  remote,  almost  impersonal  government  had  no 
home  in  republican  breasts.  We  know  better  to-day. 
The  silence  is  broken  and  interpreted.  The  sup- 
pressed fire  flames  out.  The  shadowy  secret  is  voiced 
forth.  In  that  silence  the  fervors  of  patriotism  were 
nursing  themselves;  the  glow  was  becoming  hotter 
and  whiter ;  the  pent  forces  were  moving  and  accumu- 


15 


lating,  like  the  meeting  and  commingling  elements  of 
subterranean  fires,  before  the  mountain  summit  opens, 
or  the  earthquake  rocks  a  continent.  And  there  is  no 
symbol  in  nature  that  is  this  hour  a  fit  type  of  the 
burning  and  enthusiastic  loyalty  of  the  whole  Ameri- 
mn  people.  It  is  deeper  and  broader  than  the  father 
of  waters  ;  it  is  more  forceful  and  impetuous  than  the 
gushing  life  of  spring  ;  it  is  more  annihilating  and  fatal 
to  opposition  than  the  lava  stream  of  the  live  volcano ; 
it  is  likest  to  that  unearthly  tempest,  that  rushing, 
mighty  wind,  in  which  was  the  sounding  beat  of  celes- 
tial pinions,  and  which  filled  Jerusalem  on  Pentecost, 
crowning  each  mute  disciple  with  cloven  tongues  of 
fire. 

The  signal  was  the  pulse  that  woke  at  Charleston 
harbor.  The  fire-tipped  rod  that  discharged  the  first 
cannon  on  the  walls  of  Moultrie,  was  as  the  rod  of 
Moses  to  the  rocklike  calm  of  the  Northern  heart.  The 
crimsoned  and  starry  flag  came  down  at  Sumter,  tat- 
tered and  stained  by  the  smoke  of  battle,  but  not  dis- 
honored. And  as  though  that  signal  had  been  waited 
for,  it  has  gone  up  on  every  hill-top  and  tower,  on  every 
stafF,  and  well-nigh  every  home  of  the  Korth,  and  East, 
and  West,  and  every  breeze  of  heaven  lifts  it,  and 
nightly  dews  baptize  it,  and  the  first  sunbeam  of  morn- 
ing and  the  last  of  evening  kiss  it;  and  tearful  but 
resolute  eyes  look  up  to  it,  and  firm-knit  hearts  and 
planted  feet  are  underneath;  and  dearer  than  home 
and  life,  and  sacred  next  to  our  faith  and  our  God,  is 


16 


the  old  flag  yet.  Here's  the  sentiment  of  loyalty.  It 
was  not  "  dead,  but  sleeping."  It  has  awoke.  JSTever 
did  king,  or  queen,  or  conqueror,  or  any  style  of  im- 
perial power  draw  after  it  a  love  so  deep,  and  pure,  and 
strong,  as  does  that  mute  symbol  to-xiay,  under  which 
our  fathers  fought  and  triumphed,  under  which  the 
marches  of  our  nation's  greatness  have  gone  onward. 
And  now  it  is  known  at  Washington,  and  begins  to  be 
known  at  that  other  centre  of  usurped  sovereignty, 
how  the  J^Torthern  heart  beats  —  and  the  first  step,  that 
which  asserted  our  position  and  sympathy,  is  taken. 

And  the  next  is,  that  we  respond  to  the  call  for  men 
and  means.  War,  when  it  must  be,  is  a  dreadful 
necessity.  It  comes  not  like  the  breath  of  May,  moist 
with  showers,  and  fragrant  with  violets.  It  comes  like 
a  destroying  tempest,  and  pours  abroad  its  arrowy  sleet 
and  iron  hail,  and  dashes  down  its  chained  thunder- 
bolts of  doom,  making  wreck  and  havoc  in  all  the 
happy  fields.  Paint  it  as  you  will,  in  colors  of  flaming 
fury  and  wrath,  with  awful  death  shades,  you  cannot 
go  beyond  the  fierce  and  grim  original.  There  is  a  sym- 
bol of  prophecy  which  to  me  it  always  recalls  as  its 
most  fitting  exponent,  that  "fourth  beast,"  which 
Daniel  in  his  vision  saw  rising  out  of  the  Great  Sea, 
"  dreadful  and  terrible,  and  strong  exceedingly ;  and  it 
had  great  iron  teeth  ;  it  devoured  and  brake  in  pieces, 
and  stamped  the  residue  with  the  feet  of  it."  Woe 
to  those  that  invoke  it  out  of  the  tossing  sea  of  human 
dissensions,  and  send  it  forth  on  its  wasting  errand; 


17 


woe  to  the  land  over  which  passes  the  tread  of  its  ter- 
rible hoofs.  Beneath  the  all-seeing  heaven  to-day  we 
can  say  it  is  not  of  our  invoking.  But  must  it  be  ? 
Can  any  human  interest  imperilled  here  be  worth  this 
dreadful  cost  ?  Is  there  no  way  to  hold  ourselves  back 
from  this  gulf  ? 

There  is  a  way.  Yield  all  which  rebellion  asks; 
upon  which  rebellion,  with  arms  in  its  hands,  insists. 
Yield  the  national  fortresses  on  Southern  soil;  yield 
the  national  Territories  below  the  line;  yield  the 
national  Capital ;  yield  these  cities  and  villages  of  ours 
to  the  transition  marches  of  Southern  masters,  with 
their  retinue  of  slaves,  lingering  as  they  will  on  the 
way ;  yield  the  right  to  elect  to  the  chief  magistracy 
by  popular  suffrage  the  man  of  the  popular  choice; 
yield  the  righteousness  of  that  insurrection  that  as- 
sumes the  dignity  of  revolution ;  yield  the  principle 
that  government  is  no  government,  when  any  portion 
of  its  subjects  disallow  its  supremacy;  and  that  an 
empire,  or  a  kingdom,  or  a  republic,  may  go  to  piece's 
and  blot  itself  out  from  existence  when  men  here  and 
there  shake  off  its  authority  and  forswear  allegiance ; 
burn  the  old  constitution  and  vow  fealty  to  the  new; 
tear  down  the  ten  thousand  banners  that  float  to-day 
on  the  Sabbath  air,  the  venerated  stars  and  stripes,  and 
run  up  that  traitorous  rag  that  dishonors  Sumter's  bat- 
tered and  blackened  walls.  Do  this,  and  we  may  avert 
war  —  for  a  time.  Do  you  doubt  whether  we  must 
bid  so  high  for  peace  ?  These  have  been  and  are  the 
2^ 


18 


unfaltering  demands.  Will  armed  rebellion  —  victo- 
rious in  battle  —  to  om-  timid  supplication  reduce  its 
demand  ?  But  can  we  not  pause,  and  treat,  and  settle 
it  by  negotiation  and  diplomacy  ?  We  can  if  we  will 
acknowledge  a  principle  that  forever  disintegrates  our 
Union,  makes  the  permanent  existence  of  government 
impossible,  and  formally  inaugurates  an  element  of 
anarchy  and  disruption  as  the  law  of  our  national  life, 
— and  on  no  cheaper  terms.  N"ow,  tliis  being  the  issue, 
dreadful  as  is  the  necessity,  it  must  come.  Look  dis- 
tinctly at  this  issue.  It  is  not  an  anti-slavery  war  we 
wage;  not  a  sectional  war;  not  a  war  of  conquest  and 
subjugation;  it  is  simply  and  solely  a  war  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  Government  and  the  Constitution. 
Other  matters  and  interests  may  have  their  settlement 
in  the  progress  of  the  strife.  God's  providence  will 
order  concerning  that :  but  the  question  of  to-day  is, 
shall  there  be  a  Government  in  this  land,  according  to 
the  organic  law  of  the  land  and  the  oaths  of  fealty  to 
that  law?  Or  shall  rebellion,  when  it  will  and  where 
it  will,  pull  and  tear  down,  and  trample  and  destroy, 
at  its  own  lawless  bidding  ? 

And  on  this  issue  the  Government  calls.  Who  is  on 
OUT  side  f  Who  will  rally  to  the  national  flag  ?  Thank 
God  again,  there  is  no  need  of  urgency  on  this  point. 
I  hear  the  tread  of  gathering  thousands,  —  I  see  the 
deep  enthusiasm  of  souls  on  fire  with  love  and  duty 
toward  the  common  country.  I  see  mothers  dismissing 
their  sons  with  tender  benedictions,  and  young  wives 


19 


buckfing  the  sword-belt  around  the  forms  they  leaned 
upon  ;  and  sisters  and  (simple  and  homely,  but  honest 
and  touching  word,)  sweethearts  bidding  adieus  to  the 
young  and  brave  who  may  return  no  more.  The 
streets  echo  to  the  soldier's  tread,  and  the  strains  of 
martial  music,  and  with  "  God  Uess  you  !  "  streaming 
over  them  like  bannered  inscriptions,  our  brothers  and 
our  boys  go  forth  to  the  war.  ISTot  here  only  is  this 
response.  The  uprising  is  universal.  Among  the  hills 
of  N'ew  England,  through  quiet  old  towns  and  peace- 
ful villages,  along  the  watercourses  and  the  sea  shore, 
in  every  little  hamlet,  where  the  fisherman  tended  his 
net  and  the  stanch  yeoman  followed  the  early  plow, 
comes  the  mustering  cry;  and  every  heart  answers, 
"Here  am  I,  send  me."  Dainty  youth,  with  soft  hands 
and  fair  cheeks,  turn  from  silks  and  laces  to  grasp  the 
gleaming  steel.  Students  leave  their  cloistered  halls 
and  the  evening  lamp  for  the  camp  and  the  bivouac. 
Gray-haired  ministers  of  the  gospel  offer  their  hands 
to  fight,  their  lips  to  pray.  Young  lovers  walk  to  tlie 
altar  with  pale  brides,  then  join  the  march.  From  bor- 
der to  border  within  each  loyal  State,  these  scenes  are 
repeated  ten  thousand  times.  Our  foreign-born  citi- 
zens show  the  hearts  of  sons  for  the  mother  that  ]ias 
adopted  them.  And  those  summoned  first  to  the  con- 
flict, go  forward  with  proud  joy.  It  is  of  God.  Men 
are  inspired.  His  spirit  has  breathed  upon  them.  A 
holy  baptism  of  love  and  truth  for  native  land  is  let 
down  upon  them.    And  still  the  current  deepens  and 


20 


widens.  It  is  no  French  conscription,  it  is  no  forced 
levy,  it  is  no  stealthy  press-gang  filling  the  ranks.  Jt 
is  the  true  loyal  heart  of  the  country  offering  service, 
—  its  young  men,  its  heroic  blood,  its  young  ardor  its 
life  knit  to  other  and  kindred  life.  Yes,  go,  young 
patriots  !  lay  down  the  implements  of  peace,  take  up 
the  weapons  of  war.  Look  not  behind  you,  look  for- 
ward ;  your  country  calls.  She  is  our  mother  in  this 
her  hour  of  danger.  She  has  a  right  to  the  help  of  her 
sons.  Go  and  be  valiant  and  faithful.  You  cannot  be 
otherwise.  You  bear  names  that  cannot  be  dishonored. 
You  are  followed  by  watchwords  out  of  the  past  of 
New  England's  story  that  will  stir  your  hearts  to  no- 
blest deeds  when  the  combat  deepens. 

Go ;  if  you  fall  at  the  threshold,  if  dastardly  treason 
strike  before  the  battle  be  manfully  joined,  we  shall 
garner  up  your  dust,  and  learn  your  names,  and  frame 
them  into  tender  and  immortal  verse,  and  write  them 
on  our  hearts.  And  those  of  kindred  blood  that  mourn 
you,  will  stand  by  your  graves  with  badges  such  as 
mourners  in  the  time  of  peace  never  wear,  and  have 
their  home  henceforth  in  our  love  and  reverence,  and 
almost  in  our  envy.  And  we  that  remain  ?  Well,  we 
must  stand  ready  to  go  too,  if  we  are  wanted.  Who 
is  he  that  will  shrink,  if  the  call  come  ?  We  have  one 
life  to  live,  and  death  will  find  us  all.  We  cannot  live 
that  life  to  better  purpose  than  to  serve  God  in  serv- 
ing our  country.  Death  cannot  come  to  us  at  a  higher 
post  of  duty  than  when  we  strike  for  this  blood-hal- 
lowed, prayer-hallowed  Union. 


21 


If  we  go  not,  the  comfort  of  those  that  go  in  our  ^ 
name  is  our  care,  —  the  comfort  of  deserted  home-cir- 
cles, —  of  young  families,  —  of  widowed  mothers  poor 
and  old,  —  of  aged  parents  whose  time  and  strength 
for  gainful  toil  is  past,  —  is  in  our  heart  and  in  our 
charge.    We  can  be  faithful  to  this  most  sacred  trust. 

If  we  go  not,  we  can  see  that  the  Government  shall 
not  lack  the  sinews  of  war.  Every  offer  of  gold  out 
of  our  treasures  is  worth  more  than  the  yellow  metal ; 
it  is  aid  and  comfort  to  those  at  the  nation's  head  ;  it 
strikes  dismay  to  traitorous  hearts.  We  must  have,  we 
ought  to  have,  but  one  style  of  utterance  among  us. 
Let  the  tongues  and  pens  whose  words  have  helped  to 
demoralize  the  North,  to  discourage,  dishearten,  and 
perplex  the  Government,  and  to  delude  the  South  into 
the  belief  that  multitudes  of  our  population  would 
stand  by  them  in  any  mad  scheme  against  the  Union 
and  the  nationality,  —  tongues  and  pens  upon  which 
rests  to-day  a  responsibility  of  crimson  dye,  —  cease 
their  false  testimony,  and  if  they  can  not  speak  for 
freedom  and  patriotism,  at  least  learn  the  safety  and 
wisdom  of  silence ;  and  if  they  have  no  loyalty  in 
their  hearts,  either  put  on  its  colors  openly  or  openly 
join  the  league  of  parricides.  Such  men  are  but  few 
to-day,  any  where  in  all  the  united  North,  —  very  few 
within  this  old  stanch  Commonwealth.  Would  to  God 
there  were  none. 

We  have,  let  us  not  forget,  our  own  hearts  to  guard. 
If  war  is  a  duty,  it  is  a  Christian  duty,  as  sacred  as 


22 


prayer,  —  as  solemn  as  sacraments.  That  which  is 
sometimes  called  the  war  spirit,  must  have  no  home  in 
our  breast.  We  must  watch  against  its  savageness,  — 
its  hate,  —  its  revengefulness,  —  its  murderous  yancor. 
When  public  justice  smites  with  her  sword  on  the 
neck  of  crime,  there  is  no  passion  in  her  stroke,  only  a 
stern  and  awful  sorrow.  I  have  read  of  a  minister  of 
the  gospel,  who  went  into  battle  and  dispatched  one 
after  another  a  score  of  unerring  bullets  ;  and  as  each 
took  effect,  he  apostrophized  from  afar  the  victim,  "  My 
poor  fellow,  God  have  mercy  on  your  soul."  That  is 
the  spirit  in  which  to  fight  and  in  which  to  wait. 

But  in  this  spirit  we  ought  to  make  the  war  over- 
whelming. Not  a  hundred  thousand,  but  a  half  a  mil- 
lion of  men  ought  to  be  in  motion.  We  ought  to  pour 
our  legions  forward.  It  is  mercy  now  to  go  strong  and 
strike  hard.  The  grapple  has  come,  —  finish  it  quick 
and  finish  it  for  ever.  Let  this  contest  never  need  to  be 
renewed.  Let  it  be  settled  fi'om  henceforth  in  this 
land  that  a  Government  has  a  right  to  be  a  Govern- 
ment. Let  discontent  and  treason  learn  that  when 
they  stretch  out  sacrilegious  hands  to  tug  at  the  pillars 
of  the  Union,  and  of  all  constitutional  law,  that  hand 
shall  be  stricken  down  and  for  ever  palsied.  Let  us 
meet  and  settle  this  issue  now,  and  bury  it  so  deep,  in 
a  grave  so  blood-cemented,  that  it  shall  have  to  the 
end  of  time  no  resurrection.  Let  us  not  be  so  eager 
for  peace  as  to  heal  this  hurt  slightly.  Let  the  laws  go 
with  the  armies.    Hang  Teaitoes.    Above  the  terror 


23 


of  sword  and  bayonet,  let  there  be  the  terror  of  the 
gibbet  and  the  rope.  Give  not  to  treason,  when  it  can 
be  helped,  the  honor  of  a  soldier's  death.  Widen  the 
streets  through  riotous  cities.  Make  a  broad  passage 
for  the  country's  defenders.  Raze  the  nests  of  con- 
spirators,with  axe  and  fire.  This  is  shortest  and  surest, 
time-saving  and  hfe-saving.  Let  the  cautery  burn  this 
ulcer  out.  That  is  the  message  to-day  of  the  law  of 
love. 

And  we  have  finally  on  our  hearts  a  solemn  charge 
of  intercession.  We  must  let  no  excitement  separate 
betAveen  our  souls  and  God.  We  have  to  bear  up  be- 
fore him  our  friends  and  neighbors  who  have  put  on 
the  soldiers'  uniform,  that  they  may  be  Christ's  soldiers 
as  Avell  as  the  country's,  and  be  at  peace  with  God. 
We  have  to  entreat  his  great  mercy  for  bleeding  hearts 
in  lonely  homes,  —  hearts  whose  thoughts  will  be 
straying  with  an  irresistible  fascination  to  the  field  of 
strife,  and  searching  in  the  onset  and  amid  the  iron 
storm,  and  after  sunset  on  the  trodden  ground  for  well- 
remembered  and  familiar  forms.  We  have  to  pray  as 
did  the  royal  singer  and  captain  of  Israel :  "  Wilt  not 
thou,  O  God,  go  forth  with  our  hosts  ?  "  We  have  to 
remember  our  enemies  and  remember  that  they  are 
brothers,  and  that  their  sufierings  will  be  equal  to  ours, 
and  greater,  —  and  beseech  God  to  quell  the  madness 
of  their  hearts,  and  to  be  gracious  to  their  distress. 
We  have  to  entreat  the  Lord  especially  that  the  tem- 
pest of  war  may  speedily  pass,  that  the  bow  of  peace, 


24 


righteous  and  abiding  peace,  may  span  the  dark  retiring 
cloud,  and  that  no  such  frenzy  may  break  in  again  upon 
that  great  mission  which  he  appointed  us  as  a  nation 
to  fulfil.  We  have  to  remember,  too,  all  the  sweet 
charities  and  kind  and  tender  offices  and  great  and 
good  endeavors  that  belong  to  us  as  men  and  citizens 
and  disciples,  and  make  our  almsgiving  abound,  and 
roll  forward  with  helping  hand  every  scheme  of  human 
amelioration  and  Christian  zeal  on  which  the  progress 
of  civilization  and  the  triumph  of  the  gospel  dejoend, 
—  causes  and  endeavors  which  droop  in  time  of  war, — ■ 
and  earnestly  and  continually  to  commend  these  great 
and  good  enterprises  to  God's  favor. 

Waiting  thus  upon  God  we  shall  best  steady  our- 
selves in  the  midst  of  whatever  fluctuations.  One  day 
shall  give  us  tidings  of  victory,  the  next  perhaps  of 
defeat.  One  day  the  flag  shall  rise  amid  the  huzzahs  of 
triumph,  the  next  it  shall  sink  beneath  the  tramj^ling 
of  hostile  feet.  If  we  go  by  the  sight  of  the  eye  and 
the  hearing  of  the  ear,  our  souls  will  be  in  perpetual 
commotion.  If  we  stay  ourselves  upon  God,  and  look 
into  his  calm  face,  and  remember  that  the  issue  is  with 
him,  that  "  the  Lord  is  a  man-of-war,"  that  "  the  Lord 
is  his  name,"  that  he  will  give,  if  our  faith  and  con- 
stancy fail  not,  the  victory  to  the  right,  we  too  shall  be 
calm  and  courageous  and  of  good  hope. 


Date  Due 

w  21  m 

Form  335.    25M— 7-38— S 

'^975  79    Z99M    V.6  nos.l-l? 

359701 


DATE 


ISSUED  TO 


3(Li^/mj^£_  

973.79    Z99M        6    no s. 1-17 

359701 


fB2S  TOL0M«  DOES  NOT  CIRCULAR 
OTISIDl  TH«  LIBRARY  BUILDIM® 


